Mold



April 1961 s. CLARKSON I 2,978,780

MOLD

Filed April 7, 1958 $047 (Va/K900 ATTORNEY r 2,978,780 Patented Apr- ,1 1

MOLD

Stanley 'Clarkson, RR. 2, Delphi, Ind.

Filed Apr. 7, 1958, Ser. No. 726,747

'2 Claims. (Cl. 25-118) The present invention relates to a mold and has for an object the provision of a mold for making a holder in the sides of the holder while it is being formed in the mold.

The present invention also contemplates the provision of a device of this character which will form a socket in the holder to receive an anchor rod which will be inserted into the ground when the holder is used to support a fiag staff or other pole outdoors.

An aim of the present invention is to provide a mold for making a holder of concrete, ceramic material and a mold that can be filled with clay which can be baked or burned into tile.

It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a mold of this character which comprises relatively few parts which can be quickly and easily assembled by an unskilled person.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter, and' will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a mold constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the mold;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 4--4 of Figure 1, and

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a holder constructed by the use of the mold disclosed in Figures 1 through 4.

Referring more particularly to the drawings and especially to Figures 1 through 4 thereof, generally indicates a mold which is of hollow truncated cone shape.

The mold 10 comprises a side wall 11 of truncated cone shape having a closed end 12 and having its opposite end open as indicated at 13.

A truncated conical shaped male member 14 extends inwardly from the central portion of the closed end 12. The male member 14 can be formed integrally with or secured to the closed end 12 in any suitable manner. The male member is illustrated as being hollow but it may be solid if desired, and it will be noted that its side wall tapers inwardly away from the closed end 12 and its taper extends in a direction opposite to the taper of the side wall 11 of the mold 10. A socket forming extension portion 15 which is of reduced diameter with respect to the smallest diameter of the male member 14, extends from substantially the central portion of the closed end 16 towards the open end 13 of the mold 10. r

It will be noted that the free or closed end 16 of the male member 14 terminates short of the edge 17 which defines the open end 13 of the mold and the outer free end of the extension 15 terminates substantially flush with the edge 17.

The side wall 11 and the Wall of the male member 14 are spaced from one another and define therebetween a female portion or space 18 for receiving the sludge from which a holder or support, generally indicated at 19 illustrated in Figure 5 of the drawing, is made. A pair of finger hold mold members 20 are provided for forming in a side wall 21 of the holder 19 at substantially diametrically opposite points finger holds, one of which is shown at 22 in Figure 5.

The finger hold mold members are adapted to be detachably supported by the side wall 11 of the mold 10 within the space 18. Each mold member 20 is of substantially triangular shape in cross section and has an inner wall 23 which is of arcuate shape so as to conform to the curvature of the side wall 11 of the mold 10. The opposite or outer wall 24 of each member 20 has a curvature, the major portion of which is convex and conforms generally to the outside curvature or the back surface of the fingers and the adjacent base portion of the hand of a person when the fingers are slightly bent. At one end of the member 20 the outer wall 24 curves inwardly to provide a concave portion 25 which terminates in a thin wall end 26. The opposite end of the member 20 has a depression 27 formed therein which is defined by a thin end wall 28 which is a continuation of the inner wall 23 and a rounded apex portion 29 which merges with the outer wall 24.

Each mold member 20 is provided with a recess 30 having a bottom 31 from which extends a locking element generally indicated at'32. Each locking element 32 can be in the form of a conventional flat-headed screw and comprises a restricted or neck portion 33 secured in any suitable manner to the bottom 31 of the recess 30 and an outwardly extending head 34 of conical shape. The side wall 11 of the mold 10 is provided at substantially diametrically opposite points with tapered holes or slots 35. Each slot 35 is of substantially triangular shape and has a wide base end portion 36 which gradually tapers to a narrow apex portion 37. The side walls 38 of the triangularly shaped slot 35 are inwardly tapered as indicated at 39 to conform to the taper of the sides of the head 34 of the locking element 32.

The mold 10 can be made of sheet metal, or plastic, or any other suitable material, and the finger hold mold members 20 are made of some suitable resilient material.

In the use of the device the mold 10 is laid in its inverted position, that is with the closed end 12 resting upon the ground or other support so that the open end 13 is uppermost. The finger hold mold members 20 will be inserted into the space 18 and secured in position by passing the head 34 of the locking element 32 through the base portion 36 of the slot 35 and moving the member 20 towards the closed end 12 of the mold. The tapered sides of the head 34 will be guided by the beveled or chamfered edges 39 of the sides 38 of the slot 35 as the head 34 approaches the apex 37 of the slot 35 so that the mold members 20 will be drawn closely against the side wall 11 of the mold 10.

The mold 10 will then be filled with the sludge from which the holder is to be made. The sludge can be of cementitious or ceramic material or clay which can be baked or burned into tile. .The sludge will then be permitted to set after which the mold 10 is turned to. its upright position as shown in Figure 1 of the drawings, and will be tapped around the edge to loosen the hardened eastingin the mold which permits its easy withdrawal. The finger hold molds 20 will then be removed by sliding them downwardly until the head 34 of the locking element 32 registers with the wide end base portion 36 of its slot 35.

When the molded holder or support 19 is thus re moved from the mold 10, it will have the appearance of the holder illustrated in Figure 5 of the drawings. It will be noted that the finger hold mold members 24 will form a finger hold 22 at substantially diametrically opposite points of the side wall 21 of the holder 19. These finger holds 22 will each have a finger tip receiving recess formed by the rounded apex portion 29 of the mold member 29 and a rounded apex portion against which the inner concave portion of the bent fingers of the user of the support will engage. The concave portion 25 and the convex outer wall 24 of the member 20 will form a recess in the finished support 19 which will admit of the easy insertion of the hand of the user into the finger hold 22 and will guide the finger tips of the user into the recess formed by the rounded apex portion 29,

The male member 14 will provide a tapered or conical shaped socket 40 for the reception of the trunk of a Christmas tree, flag-staff or other pole, In order that this socket 40 may accommodate tree trunks or poles of various diameters, a plurality of wedge shaped members 41 are provided for insertion into the socket 40 outwardly of the tree trunk or pole and at angularly spaced apart points around the circumference of the tree trunk or pole. The wedge shaped members 41 will be wedged between the tree trunk or pole and the inner wall of the socket 40 in the support 19 so as to firmly hold the tree or pole therein in an upright position.

The socket forming extension 15 will form a socket which opens through the base of the holder 19 to permit the insertion of an anchor rod in the event the user desires to anchor the holder permanently. The socket formed by the extension 15 can be closed by means of a cork or other suitable stopper in the event it is desired to place water in the socket 40 of the holder 19 in order to keep the Chistmas tree fresh.

Although I have disclosed herein the best form of the invention known to me at this time, I reserve the right to all such modifications and changes as may come within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

l. A mold for making a holder for supporting Christ- 2,978,780 l i i mas trees, fiag-stafis and the like comprising a truncated cone shaped integral mold member having one end open for the introduction of sludge, its opposite end entirely closed and a side wall for retaining sludge, a completely closed male member on the closed end of the mold member integral therewith and extending towards the open end but terminating short of the open end and spaced from the side wall to provide therewith a female sludge receiving portion surrounding the male member, said side wall having formed therein at substantially diametrieally opposite points triangularly shaped slots having their apices extending towards the closed end of the mold member, a finger hold mold adapted to be inserted into said female portion adjacent each'slot, and a locking element on each finger hold mold adapted to extend through the adjacent slot and ride therein for retaining the finger mold within the female portion when the locking element is disposed in the apex part of the slot.

2. A mold comprising a mold member having an open end for the introduction of sludge. and a completely closed end and a side wall for retaining the sludge, a male member mounted on the closed end of the mold member and extending from said closed end and spaced from said side Wall to provide therewith a female portion surrounding the male member for receiving the sludge, the free extended end portion of the male member terminating inwardly of the open end of the mold member and being entirely closed, and a socket forming member of reduced diameter extending from the extended closed end of the male member and cooperating therewith to form a socket adapted to receive an anchor rod.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES- PATENTS 433,236 Foster July 29, 1890 692,919 Schaumloeffel Feb. 11, 1902 828,140 Robbins Aug. 7, 1906 1,568,335 Husband Ian. 5, 1926 1,585,455 Wood May 18, 1 926 1,655,023 Fu Natale Jan. 3, 1928 1,702,253 Elliot Feb. 19, 1929 1,705,354 Berry Mar. 12, 1929 1,983,758 Hick Dec. 11, 1934 2,101,015 Anderson Dec. 7, 1937 2,614,310 James Oct. 2l, 1952 twa r, 

